Staff from Regina's RCMP Training Academy will be responsible for protecting the physical safety of world leaders who attend the G-8 Summit in Kananaskis next week, an RCMP spokesman confirmed Tuesday.
Among other functions, such as performing "telecom and informatics or computer-based" duties, officers from the depot division will handle "VIP duties," requiring them to serve as bodyguards for G-8 delegates, said Insp. Dale Sheehan.
Alberta's Kananaskis Village will play host to summit delegates from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. on June 26-27.
"(These) instructors have extensive operational backgrounds" and are especially equipped to handle this type of security since they oversee "VIP or bodyguard courses two to three times per year," said Sheehan. He added Regina staff were specifically requested by the Mounties' G-8 organizing committee, along with depot division's other posts that include the Police Dog Service Training Centre in Innisfail, Alta., and a training centre in Dwyer Hill, Ont., that is shared with the military's Joint Task Force 2 elite forces.
Mounties stationed at the Regina academy on Dewdney Avenue responded to the call "as they would respond to any operational need expressed by one of the provinces," said Sheehan. The request was cleared by RCMP headquarters in Ottawa.
"We get the phone call saying 'we need 'X' amount of people' and away we go," he said.
Given the "national and international significance of the G-8, this is a high priority for the depot."
Like the 20,000 RCMP officers across the country, those at the depot are restricted from taking leave during the summit.
That means all staff will be ready to respond if needed. Reports suggest that up to 3,500 officers from urban, RCMP and the military police could be deployed to cover security during the two-day summit.
The security perimeter around the village, which covers a 6.5-kilometre radius, will be patrolled by hundreds of RCMP officers and likely several thousand soldiers. Last year, Assistant Commissioner Bill Sweeney of the RCMP's K-Division in Edmonton said the event would be "the biggest security effort in Canadian police history."
Citing security reasons, RCMP spokeswoman Heather Russell refused to confirm how many Saskatchewan staff would be heading to Alberta.
She could only say that "more than 100" staff from this province would be going and policing levels here would not be affected. There are 1,050 Mounties stationed in Saskatchewan.
Sheehan said none of the depot's tactical equipment would be transported to either Calgary or Kananaskis. Only human resources will be sent.
Asked if the depot has stepped up its year-round training regimen to prepare for the international summit, Sheehan said the depot has "had some training increases."
"But this has happened before and it will happen again," said Sheehan.
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